


Revival

by Keenir



Category: Norse Mythology, Thor (Movies)
Genre: ...a very large one!, ...but not so large a fic, ...or that was the idea, Another reason why Valkyries might walk battlefields, Gen, Loki/Sif towards the end anyways, Missing Scene, Spoilers, THOR II spoilers, Thor 2 Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-10
Updated: 2013-11-10
Packaged: 2018-01-01 01:18:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1038620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Keenir/pseuds/Keenir
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What happened after the <i>"We found a body"</i> will involve the Valkyries, and leave Sif and Volstagg witness to great change.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Revival

**"We found a body,"** the soldier of Asgard informed Odin his liege and lord and king.

"Go to the sealed doors of Valhalla, pound upon their doors, and tell them that I wish to speak with them. Then walk away from Valhalla," Odin told the soldier, who obeyed and departed to carry out that command.

He could still remember what Brunhilda had told him, all those millenia ago: 'Your sons will die, Odin. And when one of them does, inform my sisters. Do not touch the body yourself, nor permit any of your servants to touch the body. This does not settle your debt with us, but what shall follow from the collection - that shall.'

**~~~**

Looking down from his throne at the captured friends of his sons, Odin had an idea. "Leave us," he ordered the guards who had brought him Volstagg and Sif.

Once they were all gone, and there were only Odin and Sif and Volstagg in the room, the Allfather rose and came down to walk level with the two of them.

"You will both remain exactly here," Odin said to them both. "Should either of you move, should either of you speak, I will cut you down myself," he forewarned them. "And be assured that, though I shall not be quick or painless about it, your death at my hands shall be far more merciful than these others would perform."

"What do you know of the Valkyries?" Odin asked.

"They repair that which is broken, they bring back the needed," Sif said. Thor had informed her once, that any who take the throne of Asgard, by blood or marriage or any other method, thus silently swear to never be able to make use of the skills of the Valkyrie.

"This is so," Odin said. "I should have sent them to Midgard as soon as I had awoken from my slumber, fixed that settlement, and again the village Loki did damage to." _At present, many are casting their powers of repair upon the buildings damaged by Malekith's forces._

 _Then why did you not?_ Volstagg wondered, but did not ask; and his king did not offer why.

"Also done by the Valkyries is to accept the offering of small children," Odin said. "You yourself were nearly given to Valhalla, Sif, were almost raised by them; the girl who could do no magic and had little interest in books."

Indignantly, Sif thought _I was FOUR! I had not yet even been weaned!_

"Valkyries will be arriving here shortly. If they speak to you, defer to me," Odin said. The first Valkyries had been born alongside a brother, Odin knew from the tales that were not myths. That brother continued to live, keeping Yggdrasil from growing too fast or too much. Worshipped by his kin's descendants, that brother was Nidhogg.

Odin had never cared to think on what would happen if Nidhogg ever chose to leave his sanctuary in favor of moving across the cosmos with things shorter-lived than he was...things like humans...things like Asgardians.

As the footfalls of distinctive boots - the echoless calls of healing and repair and knitting as the sounds of their treads - approached, Odin left Sif and Volstagg and stood to wait for the visitors.

"Lord Odin, king of Asgard and the Nine Realms. I am Sváva and she is Ráthgrith. Valhalla is our home. Should we care who your witnesses are?"

"They are silent and shall remain so," Odin said.

 _Very well._ "Ráthgrith, unroll for the king what we bring," Sváva said.

Ráthgrith pulled a roll of fabric from on her person, the motion identical to when Sif drew her glaive from off her back. Then did Ráthgrith, with a flick of her wrists, set the roll unrolling across the floor between the Valkyries and Odin. Appearing on the fabric were two things, one atop the other.

A block of the rocky ground of Svartvalheim.

A dead Jotun.

"Loki," Odin recognized him.

First Sif frowned. Then her eyes went wide. Next she watched carefully as her mind took in everything, puzzling things through and reevaluating it all.

"What do you ask of me?" Odin asked Sváva, meeting her eyes and not flinching away from her gaze.

Ráthgrith smiled. "Long has it been since the Allfather walked the worlds within the Realms. Barely fifty trillion souls in all Nine Realms, I fear, at that time."

Said cream-throated Sváva, "Sabbatical, as your son's interest's people call it. Your son will sit upon the throne of Asgard while you stretch your legs for us."

"You feel Thor to be ready?" Odin asked, skeptical. _Your sisters have always been quick to question if my sons will ever be ready to inherit. And Loki is dead._

"Not Thor."

Odin waited, as unmoving as mortals thought a mountain to be.

Now ever Sváva smiled. "Have you forgotten the talent of my kind, lord Allfather?"

"I have not forgotten," Odin said. "I do question what you would have me doing for you in return - you said I would stretch my legs for you."

"Your sons quarrels are known to us," Ráthgrith remarked casually. "And may end much as your quarrel with your siblings did."

Sváva said "You fought your brother Vili to within an inch of his life, and then exiled him as soon as he could travel. The same as that which you did to your sister Ve. You shall find them, Odin son of Bor, and return them both to Asgard."

"And if they do not wish to accompany me back to Asgard?" Odin asked.

"You are known to the Realms as a great convincer, as one whose words sway all beings and win all contests. Why should your ability in this be doubted?" Sváva asked him.

Looking down upon the jotun corpse of his son Loki, Odin said "Then call upon your Lord Uncle - I shall uphold my end once Loki once again breathes."

Sváva and Ráthgrith bowed their heads to Odin as they backed away, their valkyrie magicks crackling from their hands in an arc over their heads. Where the streams met to form the arc's highest point, the streams formed lines which wove in and out of one another, looking much as the imprint of a Bifrost landing, and for the same reason. Within the actively-moving weaving, the eye could pick out shapes; humans saw deer and elk, Asgardians saw dragons; they were the same creature, pruning back the Great Tree Yggdrasil. At last a shape arose: as much a circle as it was a sphere as it was something of a higher order. "Brother of our ancestress," the Valkyries called, their voices calm, "the Allfather is in agreement, and wishes your aid."

A voice came from the circle-shape: **"good. a task besides pruning vast yggdrasil, i always welcome,"** and stretched forth a claw through the circle-shape.

Odin watched as the claw reached out towards Loki. Every protective instinct in Odin was screaming for him to do something, to lash out at the vastly great beast and defend his son from it. Odin shaped his hands into fists, knowing the dragon cared not how much pain a person was in if they kept to themselves.

Sif watched as the monstrous claw was about to lay its tip upon Loki's shoulder, and she had no trouble keeping her throat tightened, however much her lungs itched to scream her charge at it, no matter how much her fingers wished for the feel of something - glaive or blade or even rock - in their grip to wield against the beast. But then she recalled Odin's warning, the Allfather's _threat_ , and she held fast, much against her will. Out the corner of her eye, she could see the disbelief and loyalty and comradeship warring on Volstagg's features.

The tip barely touched Loki, sitting there for a second, then raised back up and withdrew into the circle-shape.

Loki did not so much take a breath as he sucked in all the air that surrounded him, a draw which could have emptied a tankard of ale had he been drinking. As he flexed his joints, Loki opened his eyes and found himself looking right at Sváva.

"Hail and welcome, King Loki, regent in your father's absence," Sváva said to him.

Ignoring her, Loki focused his attention on the fact that he no longer had a guise, that all in the room could see him to be a Jotun. A Frost Giant.

"Your father cast a considerable spell," Sváva said conversationally. "It held fast against near everything a person could encounter in life."

"I died," Loki said, remembering it well. _Not something I would have risked sooner._

"You did," Ráthgrith said. "All of Asgard believes you dead."

"All but those who are in this room now," Sváva said. "Your father has agreed to bring back your aunt and your uncle. You, in the meanwhile, shall occupy the throne."

"I have inherited?" Loki said, tempted to laugh, and what held him back were the centuries of stories regarding the rage Valkyries turned on any who mocked them.

"To all who come and see, the Allfather will still sit upon his throne, saddened by the loss of his wife and of one son, and left with only one son."

 _Well that's a novel limitation,_ Loki thought. _I can't do anything that a mourning Odin wouldn't do._ Looking at the circle-shape, and thinking back on the tales which were old enough to have nearly become myths themselves, Loki asked "And who is my ressurection performed by? Surely not by the ancient Nidhogg himself."

**"i am he, boy. it is time for you to take the throne."**

"Is there a hurry for you, great ancient?" Loki asked, surprised that it was _Odin_ who sucked in a breath.

**"i know of your hunter, the one who grabbed you when you fell. would you prefer to deal with i or with he?"**

"I was simply curious and meant no disrespect, mighty Nidhogg." _Thor's humans would not think 'Glorious Pruner' to be a very respectful nickname, for some reason._

Odin held out his staff of office and power to Loki, who looked at him, then at the staff, then at Odin again. Finally, Loki hesitantly took it. _The second time I have held this weapon, this tool, this instrument. We shall see if it ends better than the last time._

Softly softly, too quietly for any but Loki to hear, Odin spoke to him that "You can do this, my son. I have full confidence in you."

 _Not trust, not faith, but confidence._ And Loki smiled at Odin. "All good fortune to you, as well," Loki wished him.

Holding out his arms, his body once again cruciform, Odin spoke to the ravens to came and landed upon him, "Obey Loki my son, as you have obeyed me," and set them to flight once more. Next the Allfather silently called to him the traveling clothes of many worlds in the Realms. And he walked away until he winked out of sight on a path which even Loki hardly knew of.

Shaping an illusion, Loki let the appearance of Odin settle over him, and only then did he step up to the throne and sit upon it. "Do we have further business, Lord of the Valkyries?" he asked.

**"none."**

The Valkyries Sváva and Ráthgrith waited until the circle-shape dissolved into its constituent lines, a reversal of its formation, and the magicks came back to their hands. "With your permission, High King of Asgard, we shall take our leave," Ráthgrith said.

"Go," Loki said in the thunderous tones of Odin. "Take your leave. With our blessing. But as you leave here Gladsheim, cast your eyes upon Midgard, and do away with Malekith's damages there - do away with my damages there - and let them think the universe is not so hostile as these incursions have demonstrated."

"All evidence shall be removed," Sváva agreed. "But the mind and memory is not permitted to our talents."

"Very well. Do what you and your sisters can. Now you may take your leave."

Both Valkyries departed, taking the fabric and - rolled within it - the chunk of Svartvalheim.

Volstagg looked like he had at least three things on the edge of his tongue, and was unsure which one to say first.

Sif bore the look that long experience had taught Loki meant that she had something to say...something not suited for the tones required out of doors or in rooms of this size. 

So Loki, still appearing as Odin, came down from his throne and stopped just shy of Sif, placing one hand upon her shoulder, feeling the absence of armor there. "What is it?" he asked her.

"Our conversation was interrupted by your brother's ceremony and all events since; I would care to know if you would care to continue that discussion," Sif offered.

 _We had been discussing our relationship, such as it was, near all banter and sparring. Back before I knew what I in truth was._ "You would speak with me after what you have seen?" Loki asked Sif, disbelief in his voice, in his bones - alongside the hope which sat there also.

Sif held his gaze. "If you wish it, I have no objections," she said.

"You saw what I am, truly am, beneath this guise I cast."

Clearly demonstrating an ability to avoid rolling her eyes at someone who looked like the Allfather to everyone else, Sif said "Would you prefer I venture forth on a quest, then return here to give you the same answer as I just have?"

 _As Thor's humans say,_ "Funny you should mention that, Sif. For I do have a mission you and Volstagg can accomplish. We both know Thor shall succeed, which means this needs to be done." _And, should Thor fail, it will not matter where we are._

The look in her eyes disagreed with her words and tone as she said - respectful to all ears - "I live to serve."

 _I look forward to your words of explanation when you return, Sif, I do,_ Loki thought. _They promise to be interesting. And, one both fears and hopes, persuasive._

**Author's Note:**

> ...which takes them to the scene with the Collector.


End file.
